I want to be clear that I meant she didn't skate badly considering her injuries. As Nigel pointed out, the decline we have seen with Rachael was clearly tied with her injuries. That said, I think it's unfair to compare a injured Rachael that the healthy Rachael we saw in the 2010 season. That's why, IF she recovers from these injuries, I hope she will come back because I think if she was healthier she would have more to give.

If it turns out her situation is more like Kimmie's where injuries will keep her out for good, then that's just how it goes.

It is silly to think things would ever be how they were in 2010 for her. She is a full time college student who can only practice as much skating as she can fit in, healthy or not, her body has changed significantly since and is no longer condusive to great jumping and now makes her skating look extremely heavy at the best of times. Furthermore she was the darling of the USFSA who she has lost major support and status with and probably burnt bridges irrepairrably with the 2011 Worlds fiasco, and she was then by default their best option as the only consistent skater they had then. None of that is the case now, it is a whole new World compared to 2010 for her.

I wholeheartedly disagree her decline is solely based on injuries. I predicted after the 2011 Nationals (where she wasnt injured) that would be the last time we ever saw her make a World team barring a miracle. Her fall since has been even more dramatic than I predicted, but I could see it coming a mile away all the same.

It is silly to think things would ever be how they were in 2010 for her. She is a full time college student, her body has changed significantly since, she was the darling of the USFSA who she has lost major support and status with and probably burnt bridges irrperably with the 2011 Worlds fiasco, and she then was by default their best option as the only consistent skater they had then. None of that is the same now.

All we know definitively is that 1.) She is out for the 2012-2013 season 2.) Injuries have hampered her for the last 2.5 years, likely causing the decline in results (I'd argue she still had some injury during 2011 nationals, though they were not as bad as we've seen last season or now).

All I'm saying that I'm hoping that perhaps she can come back from injury and give a few more great skating performances she can be proud of. If that doesn't happen, well then that's that.

It is silly to think things would ever be how they were in 2010 for her. She is a full time college student, her body has changed significantly since, she was the darling of the USFSA who she has lost major support and status with and probably burnt bridges irrperably with the 2011 Worlds fiasco, and she then was by default their best option as the only consistent skater they had then. None of that is the same now.

Agreed--up until 2010, there were only a handful of consistent American ladies. Now that's all changing with the arrival of the massively talented Gracie Gold, Alissa Czisny, Mirai Nagasu and, of course, Ashley Wagner. These past two years have been instrumental in bringing them to the front of the FS scene, and they've grown up watching the skating of legends like Cohen and Kwan. I don't doubt that Flatt is on her way out, especially with her injuries, since there's a slim-to-none chance that she'll be able to make a full return to her pre-Olympics condition quick enough to challenge the rising stars of the new horde of Americans.